Letter from a Birmingham Jail

A Letter from Birmingham Jail" was penned as a response to a letter that criticized Martin Luther King Jr. written by eight high ranking clergymen. Although King's letter was addressed as a reply to these clergymen, the real audience was the "white moderate" - otherwise known as middle class America (King et al 106). By gaining the support of this majority group, King knew that the civil rights movement could achieve its goals of removing the illegal segregation practices that were still in place in the south during the nineteen sixties much faster. In his letter King goes through the list of charges made against him by these religious figures and takes issues with their main points. King's reply was eloquently written, made use of many methods of development and dealt with a very emotionally charged issue in a predominately logical manner. The letter is without doubt a very powerful piece of prose but its effectiveness is compromised by one unfortunately underlying fault - ethical integrity.

Immediately noticeable in this essay is the eloquence of the prose. This is one of the methods King uses to present his argument in a non-aggressive style. It helps lay the tone of the essay in an ethical sounding, non-blaming manner. This is essential when considering who Kings target audience was. If King had written a letter attacking his audience the ultimate purpose of the essay would have been lost. A good example of this is found in paragraph eight when King writes about the breaking of promises made to the Negro community by the local white merchants. "As in so many past experiences, our hopes had been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us"(102). This passage immediately shows that King is recognizing faults but, more importantly, still not laying blame. And with the phrase "that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood"(102). we see King again using eloquent...

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LetterfromBirminghamJail
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote one of his most famous works while confined in a jail cell. He wrote this as a response to a statement written about him by eight Alabama clergymen. In the letter King uses many methods to convey his message about things going on in Alabama. King mainly uses logos, pathos, and ethos to express his point in “LetterfromBirminghamJail.”
In the letter King utilized the power of human emotion to explain to the clergymen the importance of his being in Birmingham for the demonstrations. Early in the letter King stated “We were the victims of a broken promise”, quickly getting the clergymen to be empathetic to his disappointment. He explained how he had tried to negotiate without having to come to the demonstrations, but the businessmen had backed out of their agreement and surely the clergy must relate to his frustration about the broken promises. King continued, speaking more directly, when he said “In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with hopes that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure.” Here he aimed...

...Analysis: LetterfromBirminghamJail
S- To state the reason Martin Luther King Jr. is in Birmingham for attempting to change segregation as social justice and his use of civil disobedience as an instrument of freedom.
O- King was incarcerated for expressing his rights as a US citizen and now writes a letter to explain the injustice
A- The Alabama Clergymen and U.S. Citizens
P- To announce that without forceful direct action, equal rights and true civil rights may never be achieved
S- Martin Luther King Jr.
Tone: King kept a patient tone throughout this letter as well as an understanding of the views of the clergymen. He found common ground throughout the essay mentioning previous points they made and politely arguing with them as well as responding with a counter argument that may make.
6) What kind of ethos does MLK establish within this essay?
MLK King conveys his message by appealing to ethos. King does this many times throughout the letter. King writes that he follows just laws yet he breaks unjust laws. He relates breaking unjust laws with what the early Christians did. "Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience...early Christians who were willing to face hungry lions...rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire." King attempts to elucidate that early Christians broke laws that they felt were...

...Increasing Importance FromBirmingham
“A LetterFrom A BirminghamJail” written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is an amazing piece of writing that Dr. King wrote in response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen. The letter conceded that social injustices were taking place but expressed the belief that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts and not taken onto the streets. Dr. King was writing the letter to explain his reasoning on being in Birmingham and why it was not against the law that him and his people were protesting. Dr. King uses vivid imagery, aggressive diction, and repetition throughout his letter to powerfully build to the climax. Climax is a scheme that aids Kings argument in the letter by painting a picture for the reader, allowing the reader to feel the emotions of Dr. King though language, and also allowing the reader to pick up on the important issues throughout the entirety of the letter.
Throughout the whole body of the letter lots of vivid imagery is used by King to build climax. This whole letter is an escalation until the final paragraphs when it is summed up and beings to take a calmer tone. The reason being for the use of imagery is to paint a picture for the reader. An example of imagery in the...

...Akeem Harris
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LetterFromBirminghamJail Analysis
“LetterfromBirminghamJail: April 16, 1963” was written by Dr. Martin Luther King in response to published statements denouncing his non-violent protest in Birmingham, Alabama. The article, composed on scraps of paper, in the margins of the newspaper and finally on writing pads (King, 1963) by Dr. King as he was incarcerated in Birmingham City Jail for participating in a series of non-violent protests, known as the Birmingham Campaign. “LetterfromBirminghamJail” is considered“the most important written document of the modern civil rights movement and a classic text on civil disobedience”, primarily due to King’s impassioned defense of his confrontational tactics. (Bass, 2001 )
Initiated because of the response to the reluctance of the city to end segregation, the Birmingham Campaign, established Birmingham as the hotbed of the Civil Rights Movement in 1963. Considered a strategic movement to expose the inequality that Birmingham’s African-American citizens existed under began during the spring of 1963. Clashes between African-American teenagers and white Birmingham law enforcement officials...

...
Letterfrom a BirminghamJail
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights leader, was put into jail after being part of the Birmingham campaign in April 1963. He was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was asked by an Alabama group to come to Birmingham. He and members of his organization joined The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and organized non-violent protests against racial segregation. Because of these nonviolent protests, many of his followers were put into jail. Alabama clergymen published a announcement in the paper stating blacks should not support Martin Luther King Jr. and the other protesters. While in jail, Dr. King replied with a letter directed towards these men and the rest of the community. Martin Luther King Jr. argued for nonviolent protest with the use of ethos, logos, and pathos in his “Letterfrom a BirminghamJail”.
Ethos
Martin Luther King Jr. is a very smart and reasonable man. He explained why he is in Birmingham and he compared himself to Apostle Paul and other prophets that wanted to bring freedom. He also wanted to bring freedom to other cities and so he promised to help the Alabama group with the segregation issue. King, being the intelligent and honest man he is, put his argument on...

...of MLK’s LetterfromBirminghamJail
Martin Luther King Jr.’s LetterfromBirminghamJail is a response to a statement that was published by eight clergymen from Alabama. He usually doesn’t respond to people’s criticisms of his activities because he would otherwise have no time to do constructive work. But since he feels that the clergymen are men of good will and that their criticisms were sincere, he wanted to take the time to respond. King opens the letter with stating his position as President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference—an organization operating in every southern state that has affiliation with the Alabama Christian Movement for Human rights. His purpose on earth is to carry the gospel of freedom beyond his hometown, just as the prophets from the Bible carried the gospel to the corners of the Greco-Roman world. King’s letter was arranged in an organized fashion that explains what caused him to start taking direct action, why direct action is necessary, why it is worthy to break unjust laws, being considered an extremist, his disappointment with the church, and recognizing the true heroes of the South.
King feels there is a correlation between all communities. Therefore, he cannot work solely in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham....

...Luther King Jr.’s “LetterfromBirminghamJail”, Mr. King uses many
rhetorical situations and persuasive appeals. King writes this letter, in my opinion, to the
audience of the American people. I feel the persuasive techniques, the structuring of the
sentence and the content expressed was intended to force the American white middle class’
eyes open to the blatant disregard of the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 - outlawing
segregation in public schools. A short minded assessment of the letter may conclude that the
letter was solely written as a response to a statement titled “A Call for Unity”, made by eight
white Alabama clergymen. Though his heartfelt vividly emotional accounts and the eloquent
semblance of rhetoric is addressed to “My Dear Fellow Clergymen”, it is my opinion he
composed the letter to be contemplated by a much larger audience. This paper will discuss the
rhetorical triangle used by King in the form of ethos (ethics), pathos (emotional content) and
logos (logic).
Let us consider the ethos or ethical form of communicating to ones audience. Ethos is
defined as “a rhetoric technique used to directly appeal to an authority in order to strengthen
your argument”. (Wikipedia.org ). This form of written or verbal communication is used with
the intention of showing the reader that the...

...of a Jail Dream
The civil rights movement took place during a time when America was divided by race and creed. Dr. Martin Luther King was motivated to write this letter by the unjustified violent acts of discrimination, imprisonment, and physical bodily harm that he and many others had encountered during what was supposed to be a non-violent racial segregation protest in Birmingham, Alabama. After being arrested for his part in the protest, he penned “LetterfromBirminghamJail” from the confines of his cell. He used examples of well-known religious leaders and their successes throughout history to show his stance on civil rights and the need to change the way people viewed his race. In his letter, Dr. Martin Luther King used logic, credibility, and emotion to establish his claim of cause.
Dr. King used rationale when he talked about compassion and peaceful thought processes for the Civil Rights movement in order to enable equality. In the Birminghamletter he talked about many past religious idealists and how they overcame hostility. In the following passage, he reflected upon the philosopher, Socrates, and his beliefs on human equality:
Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered...